Chapter 4
Four
Gage
My mind had been racing since the moment Julie said she was running from her boss and I hadn’t been able to stop obsessing over needing all of the information she refused to give me.
When I saw how much stuff she had packed with her, I knew that she wasn’t just running from someone, but that she didn’t have any plans of going back.
Part of me hoped that it was just because her daughter was there and she didn’t want to worry her, but another part of me worried that she wouldn’t open up to me because of the current status of my friendship with her brother.
“Does she like macaroni and cheese?” I asked Julie as I stared in the fridge for kid-friendly dinner options.
“She’s not a picky eater, and like I said, you don’t have to cook for us.”
I closed the door and turned around to stare at her.
“If you truly think that I will cook for myself and not make enough for every person in this house, then you don’t know me at all.”
Lunch had been a battle as well, with Julie fighting me over making a ton of grilled cheese sandwiches and insisting she didn’t need me to take care of them. It wasn’t that I felt like I needed to take care of them, but more so that I wanted to.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she replied, sighing heavily. “I just feel bad that you’re doing all of this cooking for us. That’s extra work that you didn’t ask for.”
“It’s literally not any extra work. I just need to know what she likes. I don’t want to make something and she only eats it because she feels like she has to. I want her to like it.”
“Well, she’s probably still full from the popcorn and snacks you loaded her up with earlier,” Julie teased, walking beside me in the kitchen as she dug through one of the paper bags filled with food I had brought in from her car earlier.
I had insisted on storing everything in the pantry for her, but she was still reluctant to do anything that might insinuate they would be staying with me for a while.
Even when I showed them around the house and let them pick which bedrooms they wanted, I could see the anxiety rolling off of Julie as her mind raced with trying to figure out another option.
“She ate her lunch just fine,” I objected with raised hands. But she was right, I had given in and let Daisy have more snacks after lunch because I couldn’t say no to her adorable little face.
“Since you’re being so nice about it and won’t take no for an answer, this is her favorite macaroni and cheese.”
She handed me a box that had cartoon dogs on it and smirked.
“You want me to make her dog macaroni?” I questioned, holding the box and examining it as I turned it around and looked at the other side.
“It doesn’t have actual dogs in it.” She laughed. “But this is her favorite cartoon to watch, so she will be excited when she sees it.”
“Wait—she hasn’t had this one before?” I asked, hating how excited I was to impress a child.
“No.” She shook her head. “I grabbed it at the store the other day, but didn’t have a chance to show her yet. After everything happened, my mind was kind of scattered. But it will be a nice surprise for her here.”
I nodded as if I weren’t affected by this at all. I didn’t want to come across as overly invested in things and scare her off, even though deep down I hated that something bad had happened, which left Julie and her daughter in danger.
While she worked on fixing a salad with the vegetables I had in the fridge, I focused on following the directions on the back of the box because I wasn’t going to be the one who ruined Daisy’s favorite macaroni.
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After dinner, I finished preparing the guest room for Julie while she gave Daisy a bath.
While I had come up to the cabin with the intention of clearing it out so I could sell it, I hadn’t been there long before Julie showed up this morning.
I had arrived the day before and had only enough time to unpack the essentials, knowing I would be there for a few weeks, thanks to the storm rolling in.
Being a general contractor meant I didn’t have to hire anyone to come out and do the work that needed to be done.
Before dinner, I threw some linens in the wash so they would have fresh towels in the guest bathroom, and clean sheets and blankets for their bed.
I had offered them any room in the house, aside from the one I had already taken.
But instead of taking one with two beds, Julie chose the one right next to mine, which had a king-sized bed.
She insisted that it made her feel better to have Daisy close to her, but I couldn’t stop myself from hoping that they would both feel safer being in the room right next to me.
I sat on the couch, pretending to watch TV while Duke laid beside me, tired from a long afternoon of cuddling with Daisy.
I didn’t know if Julie would come out and talk with me once she got Daisy to sleep, but I hoped she would.
I needed to talk to her and get answers to the questions that wouldn’t stop infiltrating my thoughts.
The news began with the meteorologist discussing how this storm would be greater than anything they’d seen before.
I’d lived in Washington, close to Mount Rainier, for most of my life, so I knew how bad the snow could get.
This storm seemed to be having a “hold my beer” moment with what the expected snowfall was forecasted to be.
All of us were guaranteed to be snowed in for at least a few days—if not more.
Thankfully, between what I brought with me and what Julie had, we had plenty of food to get us through until the roads were clear again and we could get to the store.
“Thank you again for letting us stay. She’s out like a light,” Julie said as she sat down beside me on the couch and curled her legs underneath her.
“It’s not a problem at all.” I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off so I could have her full attention. I didn’t want to force it out of her, but I needed to know what happened. I needed to be able to protect them, and I could only do that if I knew what they were up against.
“I know you don’t want to, but I need you to tell me what happened,” I said softly, hoping it would encourage her to talk to me.
I knew that my rough exterior tended to keep people away—the way I liked it.
But I didn’t want that with Julie. If anything, I wanted her closer so she could feel the strength of my protection and know that I would do anything in the world to keep her and Daisy safe.
I wanted her to hear my heart as it beat steadily in my chest, beating for them, because reconnecting with Julie sent shockwaves through my body, reminding me of the feelings I had kept hidden from her for all these years.
“I don’t even know where to start.” She pressed her lips together and let her shoulders drop as she exhaled heavily.
“When I first met Joel, my boss, it was when I was in between jobs right after Mike died. Daisy had just turned one, and I was lost trying to figure out how to be a single mom while grieving the death of my husband and trying to pay our bills. Joel offered me a position where I could work from home so I didn’t have to worry about finding childcare. ”
I shifted slightly on the couch to see her better, but stayed quiet so she could continue.
“I didn’t have family close by to help out with my parents living in Florida and Patrick moving to New York for his new job.
He offered to come help us, but I couldn’t do that to him.
I knew how hard he’d worked for that promotion, and after Melanie called off their engagement, I knew he needed a fresh start.
He didn’t need to be tied down with taking care of his little sister and her child. ”
“I know that Patrick and I have our differences, but I can assure you that your brother would have dropped everything to help you, Julie. He loves you more than anything. He was so thrilled to be an uncle. Nothing could ever keep him from you guys.”
“I know,” she said with a soft smile. “But I just couldn’t do that to him.
I think part of me wanted to prove to myself that I could do this on my own.
And for a while, I did. Things were going great and I was able to work from home while taking care of Daisy.
Then everything started to change this year when she started kindergarten.
It was hard having her away from me all the time, but I loved how happy she was about going to school.
She would come home and talk my ear off from the moment I picked her up, telling me every single thing that happened that day. ”
She laughed softly as the memories replayed in her mind, and I grinned because I could absolutely see that happening.
I had only spent one day with Daisy, and she had been the most lively, most animated child I had ever met.
The passion that sparkled in her eyes when she told me about her hobbies and how much she loved school was so intense that I couldn’t imagine going through the rest of my life and not hearing about hers.
“But then once she was in school, I started to notice that Joel was acting differently. We’d had the same schedule for almost four years, and suddenly, things didn’t work for him anymore.
” She tipped her head back and rolled it slowly on her shoulders before looking at me.
“At first, I thought it was because I was able to work more hours, so it made sense that he needed me more. But then, a few months ago, he started just showing up at my apartment for meetings. It was really weird because we never did in-person meetings, and when I asked him about it, he said that it was mandatory for all employees. I offered to go into the office for the meetings now that Daisy was in school, but he insisted that we do it in my office, which of course was in my living room.”
My jaw tightened as I listened, already knowing that I would hate where this was going.